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Norman (2018 film)
Norman is an American psychological horror drama film released on March 21st 2018. It is a prequel to Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 Psycho, which is an adaption of the novel of the same name, focusing on a young Norman Bates and the build up to killing his mother Norma. It ignores the events of Psycho IV: The Beginning, while loosely adapting events mentioned in Psycho III through the use of time skips. It received mixed to positive reviews, with praise going to the acting and plot, but criticism on the pacing. Plot Starting in 1928, it shows Norma Spool and her sister Emma meeting John Bates, an owner of a motel in Fairvale, California. Despite Norma being standoffish to John and Emma being more interested, John clearly shows a greater interest in Norma. Fast-forwarding to 1944, a thirteen year old Norman Bates is hanging out with his best friends Luke and Richard. The three are leaving school and retreat to their hideout upon being chased by bullies, discussing their individual problems. Despite claiming he has none, his friends note he is reluctant to go home. In 1931, Norma gives birth to Norman but is upset that her sister Emma wasn't present, believing she is still angry over John ending their relationship. In truth however John and Emma are still engaged in a romantic and sexual relationship behind Norma's back, with John promising Emma that once the time is right they will leave with Norman to escape Norma, who Emma believes to be cruel and selfish. In 1946 Norman is celebrating his birthday with his friends and close members of Fairvale, including his crush Jessica Morgan. However his mother appears and Norman quickly and rudely forces everyone to leave. After this it becomes apparent that Norma is emotionally and physically abusive to Norman, who in turn is developing violent outlets for his anger and resentment that include killing animals. Two years later in 1948 Norman is dating Jessica and is planning to take a career in journalism, but has began to suffer from paranoia and delusions that his friends have caught upon. When in the middle of work he hallucinates his mother attacking his friends, causing him to lash out and accidently hits his boss, before running home. Luke and Richard chase after him, but only Luke continues after Richard gives up. Luke follows Norman back to his house and learns of the abuse he suffers, and attempts to stop Norma from hurting her son. However upon her orders, Norman attacks and kills Luke, and is forced to help her hide the body. Emotionally torn up from what happened, Norman demands to know why Norma hates him so much, and she reluctantly explains. In 1932 Norma learns of the affair and brutally attacks John, scarring him and leading him to seek aid from Emma. She confronts her sister and the two argue over who stole John from who, when John appears and attacks the two. John reveals that he's actually a serial killer who stole the real John Bate's identity years before he brought the motel, and plans to kill Norman and Emma and escape with Norman to make him his successor in being a serial killer. Norma breaks herself and Emma free and attacks John, and in the resulting fight Emma accidently kills John. Completely breaking down, Emma kidnaps Norman but is quickly apprehended by the police. Seeing that her sister was broken by what happened and was practically in a walking coma, and knowing that no one would believe that John was a serial killer, Norma claimed that Emma killed him out of jealousy. Back in the present Norma says that she hates Norman as he represents John and he should be thankful she isn't worse. Unable to fight back, he accepts what she is saying and cuts of ties from Richard and Jessica. In 1950 Norman is jealous that Jessica is engaged, while Richard is now a police officer. He is also angry that Norma has begun a relationship with Luke's father Ben, who similarly hates Norman and suspect shim of being responsible for his son's disappearance. As a result, he often hits Norman just like Norma. Norman visits Richard and reluctantly reveals that he killed Luke, and begs him to kill him. However Richard doesn't believe him, having long believed that Luke left Fairvale like he said he would, and Norman in a fit of rage poisons Norma and Ben, killing them and making it seem like suicide. After the funeral Jessica comes to visit him, and they discuss what has happened and how both wish they had ended up together, which leads them to begin making plans to leave together and get married. However Jessica notices a smell and while Norman is out of the room follows it down into the basement, to find the dead body of Norma, recently dug up. Norman suddenly appears, dressed as his mother, and kills her before leaving and coming back dressed as normal, before reacting like he had just found the body and believing that "Mother" killed Jessica. After a brief argument with "Mother", Norman reluctantly begins to hide the body, solidifying his destiny. The post credits scene, taking place in 1960, shows Richard as a highway patrol officer finding Marion Crane asleep in her car. Cast * Tom Holland as Norman Bates * Rachel McAdams as Norma Bates (nee Spool) * Bobby Cannavale as John Bates * Cameron Diaz as Emma Spool * Alex Wolf as Luke Gavin * Tommy Nelson as Richard Smith * Chloe Grace Mortez as Jessica Morgan